Manti Te'o Girlfriend Bobblehead Night at Freedom Game

Devon Teeple — Tue, 21 May 2013 06:57:55 -0400

Manti Te'o and independent league baseball are making for a very interesting ballpark promotion.

The Florence Freedom of the independent Frontier League is offering their first 1,000 fans a genuine Manti Te'o Girlfriend Bobblehead Thursday night, May 23. When initially announced on May 20, their website included information on the additional giveaways and festivities:

Thursday night’s promotions will also include an air guitar contest, a pretend kiss cam, an imaginary food fight, and fans with imaginary friends, girlfriends/boyfriends or spouses are encouraged to sit in section 115, the section furthest down the left field line.

Now that all of the hysteria surrounding Te'o's "girlfriend", the fake Twitter account and the guy running it is all out in the open, you can't fault anyone for trying to exploit the profitability in all of this.

The Freedom ranked in the bottom five of 14 teams in attendance last year and second-to-last in 2011, according to Frontier League statistics), so it's no surprise why this is happening. It's obviously old news since this was reported way back in January, according to CBS Sports, although you can guarantee it's certain to draw a crowd.

Baseball in general is no stranger to wacky and off-the-wall promotions.

The Brockton Rox of the independant Can-Am League broke a Guinness world record by selling an $80 hot dog in 2011. The Lowell Spinners held a Political Correctness night a few years back, but Spinners spokesman Jon Goode wasn't taking things too seriously:

We just pay attention to what's in the news, and it seems like you're always hearing about people getting upset over what seem like the silliest things to the vast majority of people. So we thought, why not have some fun with it?

Yes, the Freedom having a bobblehead night is not supposed to be taken seriously. It's all in good fun. It's like toilet humor—lame but funny. However, you can guarantee people will be talking about this and isn't that the whole point?

Look at the now-defunct London Rippers, of Ontario, who played in the Frontier League. Their logo was getting ripped apart six ways from Sunday because of their "Jack the Ripper" logo. The London Free Press noted that women's abuse center's were in an uproar among others because of it. Still, the logo garnered national attention throughout the U.S.

Sports is entertainment, plain and simple. That's what the Rippers were about and that's what the Freedom's bobblehead night is about. Nothing more, nothing less.

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D-Train Paying His Dues in the Indy Game

Devon Teeple — Sun, 19 May 2013 08:55:54 -0400

Anyone would play the game they love if they could. Dontrelle Willis is one of those players.

In early April, Willis signed with the Long Island Ducks of the Independent Atlantic League with the hope of regaining the form that once made him one of the best pitchers in the National League.

In four games for the Ducks, Willis is 1-1 with an ERA of 4.11. In 19 innings, he has surrendered 24 hits and struck out 10. Not the worst numbers in the world, but his control is a recurring problem that hasn't subsided.

Willis has given free passes to 11 batters and his WHIP (walks plus hits per inning pitched), a measurement of the number of baserunners a pitcher has allowed per inning pitched, is at an excessively high 1.780.

Willis' start on May 7 against the Lancaster Barnstormers was good. He pitched nearly seven innings and gave up two runs on four hits.

Unfortunately, his start against the York Revolution on May 14 was a step in the wrong direction.

The Revolution took Willis to school that night. He allowed seven runs (two earned) on nine hits. The funny thing in all of this is that the Revolution couldn't hang on to the 7-5 lead after 4.1 innings and wound up losing 8-7, according to The York Dispatch.

Willis, Scott Kazmir and now Ricky Romero have seen the best and the worst of times. But one thing you can always count on is that they will always take the mound every fifth day given the chance.

That is why these guys play at the top level of their profession. They didn't make it there by mistake, and they'll all, more than likely, make it back.

It took Kazmir nearly two years to get re-signed by a big league team.

On the other hand, Ricky Romero is at a point where it seems like there is no hope. He's had two utterly disappointing performances with Triple-A Buffalo. In his last start against the Indianapolis Indians, he walked six in 3.2 innings and will—barring some miracle—be sent down to lower levels if the results don't improve.

Willis is a distant memory to most of the baseball world at the moment and the cameras as well as reporters will not be focusing on guys pitching in obscurity. That's probably the best thing for him right now.

Devon can be reached at devon@thegmsperspective.com. You can follow the GM's Perspective on Twitter and Facebook. His full bio can be seen here.

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Manti Te'o Girlfriend Bobblehead Night at Freedom Game

D-Train Paying His Dues in the Indy Game